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Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street is an hour-long, Emmy Award-winning Sesame Street Christmas special that first aired on PBS on Sunday, December 3, 1978, at 7pm. Oscar the Grouch raises doubts about whether Santa Claus can deliver presents on Christmas Eve if he can't fit through the narrow chimneys on Sesame Street, so Big Bird decides to stay up all night to solve the mystery with the help of his friends, Patty, Kermit, and Grover. He nearly freezes to death while waiting on the brownstone's roof and is rescued by Gordon and Susan. Meanwhile, Cookie Monster tries to communicate with Santa to ask for cookies for Christmas, but on all three attempts he gets so carried away with thinking about what sort of cookies Santa will bring him, that he winds up eating a pencil, typewriter, and telephone. While all this is going on, Ernie and Bert re-enact O. Henry's classic story "The Gift of the Magi" and, with the help of Mr. Hooper, learn a valuable lesson about generosity. The program features a variety of seasonal tunes, including "True Blue Miracle," "Keep Christmas With You (All Through the Year)," "I Hate Christmas," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." The special opens with an ice-skating sequence, combining the Sesame characters from Ice Follies with the Sesame Street humans to create the illusion that the entire cast of the show is enjoying an ice-skating trip. One of the highlights of this section is Big Bird skating with a little girl to José Feliciano's recording of "Feliz Navidad". Clips from this special appeared in the A&E Biography of Santa Claus. File:Xmasanother81.jpg|A little girl teaches a silent Big Bird how to skate File:Xmasanother82.jpg|The Count and Cookie Monster play "Snap the Whip" File:Xmasanother83.jpg|Ernie, Bert, and the Count covering their eyes because Cookie Monster landed on the barrels File:Xmasanother84.jpg File:Xmasanother85.jpg File:Xmasanother86.jpg File:Xmasanother87.jpg File:Xmasanother88.jpg Image:Subway.86.jpg|Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch coming home from ice skating. File:Xmasanother89.jpg File:Xmasanother90.jpg File:Xmasanother91.jpg File:Xmasanother92.jpg File:Xmasanother93.jpg File:Xmasanother94.jpg|Kermit the Frog in a winter costume File:Xmasanother95.jpg File:Xmasanother96.jpg File:Xmasanother97.jpg|Muppet and Kid Moments: How Does Santa Claus Get Down the Chimney File:Xmasanother98.jpg File:Xmasanother99.jpg Image:Cookie.jpg|Cookie Monster has a hard time calling Santa Claus. File:Xmasanother101.jpg File:Xmasanother102.jpg File:Xmasanother103.jpg File:Xmasanother104.jpg File:Xmasanother105.jpg File:Xmasanother106.jpg File:Xmasanother107.jpg File:Xmasanother109.jpg File:Xmasanother110.jpg File:Xmasanother111.jpg File:Xmasanother112.jpg File:Xmasanother113.jpg File:Xmasanother114.jpg File:Xmasanother115.jpg File:Xmasanother116.jpg File:Xmasanother117.jpg File:Xmasanother118.jpg File:Xmasanother119.jpg File:Xmasanother120.jpg File:Xmasanother122.jpg|Maria confronts Oscar File:Xmasanother123.jpg File:Xmasanother124.jpg File:Xmasanother127.jpg File:Xmasanother128.jpg|"Scotchpine Delicious!" Image:ChristmasEveonSSTVGuideAd.jpg|A TV Guide advertisement for the special. Cast *'Muppet Performers:' Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Caroll Spinney, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt *'Cast:' Linda Bove, Northern Calloway, Debbie Chen, Will Lee, Loretta Long, Sonia Manzano, Bob McGrath, Roscoe Orman, Alaina Reed *'Skating Muppets:' skaters from the Ice Follies shows Credits * Producer: Dulcy Singer * Directed by Jon Stone * Written by Jon Stone and Joseph A. Bailey * "True Blue Miracle" Composed by Carol Hall * "Keep Christmas With You (All Through the Year)" and "I Hate Christmas" Composed by Sam Pottle and David Axlerod * Music by Dick Lieb * Music Coordinator: Danny Epstein * Music Assistant: Dave Conner * Associate Director: Ozzie Alfonso * Production Supervisor: Robert Braithwaite * Muppet Designers: Don Sahlin, Kermit Love, and Caroly Wilcox * Art Director: Alan J. Compton * Production Stage Manager: Chet O'Brien * Stage Manager: Emily Squires * Set Decorator: Nat Mongioi * Lighting Directors: David M. Clark, Tony DiGirolamo * Graphic Artist: Gerri Brioso * Costume Designer: Bill Kellard * Wardrobe: Grisha Mynova * Production Assistants: Mercedes Polanco, Sharen Gay, Cathi Rosenberg-Turow * Technical Advisor: Walt Rauffer * Technical Director: Ralph Mensch * Sound Effects: Dick Maitland, Roy Carch * Audio: Mike Shoskes, Jay Judell * Executive Producer: Jon Stone Edits *In various re-airings on PBS in the late-1980s, the closing scene with Susan and Gordon finding that Cookie Monster ate most of their Christmas tree was cut. *On the DVD edition, the original Children's Television Workshop logo with Christmas music was cut. See also *''Christmas Eve on Sesame Street'' (album) *''Christmas Eve on Sesame Street'' (book) *''Christmas Eve on Sesame Street'' (video) Category:Sesame Street Specials Category:Christmas Productions